Writing in Public: Story 4 (Novella) Chapter 17

[image error]CHAPTER 17

Graul was on his way back from the officer’s mess after lunch when Marotta caught up with him at a run.  He turned back against the bulkhead as a crew member stinking of aftershave rushed past.

“Dial the smell down,” he bellowed at the crew member, who tossed over his shoulder a quick, “Yes, sir.”

Marotta waited for the ship’s intercom to finish an announcement—they’d managed to stop under one of the speakers, so it was quite loud.  “The drone’s in.  Our tech already found something.  Very interesting, he said.”

“Well, we should be able to contact the landing party soon,” Graul said.  “Mel tried to get through earlier, but we lost her in the interference.”

“She seem upset?”

“No.”

“Maybe your gut’s wrong.”

“Gut’s never wrong.”

They went three flights down to the executive conference room.  The tech, a wiry dark-skinned fellow with hair dyed blond, already had an image up over the table.  It showed an overhead view of the scientist’s camp, with people walking around.  It was too high up to recognize faces, but the movement of one figure…

Mel.

Graul resisted the urge to reach out and touch that figure, like he’d done in all the messages from her.  He clasped his hands behind his back.

“What did you find?” he said.

As an answer, the tech did a dance across the table top, pulling up a new image.  It was the same area—that big rock in the background marked the spot clearly.  But there were lines crisscrossing underneath, forming squares and rectangles.

“The data shows that there used to be a river that ran through here,” the tech said.  “Probably dried up due to draught and the desert took over.  But there was a city there once.  Those are the ruins.  That rock is a statue that collapsed.”

“Hope’s ghost,” Marotta said.

“A ghost from a long dead civilization,” Graul murmured.

“Can you tell when this city died out?” Marotta asked.

“No, Chief,” answered the tech.  “That’d be in the history records I ‘pect.”

To Graul, Marotta said, “I’ll add more people on that, sir.”

“Have them look at the aliens who died out.  It’s got to be them.’ Graul leaned close to look at the lines that had once shaped a civilization and wondered what secrets the ghost was hiding.

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